In the past, when people heard the term “call center,” they usually conjured up the image of a room full of people making random cold calls. These calls would feature telemarketers stumbling through a prepared script, trying to sell a product or raise funds.
“While there’s a place for that in some businesses, that’s not necessarily the case with many companies today and is certainly not the only thing that a true marketing company provides,” says Dana Allender, the director of business development at InfoCision Management Corp.
Smart Business spoke to Allender about call centers and how their roles have changed in today’s business world.
How has the role of the call center changed?
These days, many companies are experiencing hard economic times, budget cuts, layoffs and/or hiring freezes. Companies are looking for teleservices providers that can not only deliver expertise, but also emulate the true culture of the company. The solution needs to be flexible, scalable and easily deployed, while generating quantifiable and measurable results. Bottom line, they don’t need a call center, they need a solution to assist in achieving their business objectives.
A teleservices provider with true marketing expertise is a ‘performance agency’ that is only successful when you are. Ten years ago, the teleservices industry took the stance of ‘this is what we do and this is how much you’ll pay for it.’ Now, people expect performance right out of the gate; they need to see it impact their profits. When you select a teleser-vices company to assist with direct sales, customer support or any other marketing initiative, it needs to be willing to put not only its reputation but its money on the line as well. It needs to prove to you that it can execute a strategy and produce results at or above your expectations, whether it be generating new sales, reducing costs or retaining customers.
Now more than ever, developing relationships is vital to business — whether it’s a teleservices provider or a fulfillment company, make them a partner and bring them to the table at the beginning so they not only can understand your objectives but also provide insights from their own years of experience on how to achieve them.
When the economy improves, will the role of teleservices providers return to what it was?
I don’t feel that it will; the changes in delivering sales, marketing and customer support that are happening have been in the motion for some time. Businesses and consumers don’t want ‘mass-marketed,’ and it’s been cost prohibitive to put ‘feet on the street’ to be able to reach every one of them individually. The current economic environment isn’t the only issue; businesses and consumers alike have their own unique ways of wanting to be communicated with. It’s up to each company to uncover what that is and deliver it.
How much did the federal Do Not Call legislation affect the teleservices industry?
When it first passed, everyone thought that teleservices providers would be put out of business and no one would be able to make phone calls anymore. That obviously didn’t happen, but it did narrow the playing field. Now, quality is the cost of entry and not everyone survived. Companies have to be willing to invest in hiring the right people and ever-changing technology, and seek out not the ‘best practices’ but the best practice for each of their customers. If you’re not able to do this, you’re going to have to find another industry to pursue.
The legislation actually opened up more opportunities for the good teleser-vices companies because they were willing to do the due diligence, help educate their clients and prospective clients and invest in the infrastructure to protect them.
What does the future hold for teleservices providers?
Companies are continually asking what they can do to become more efficient with their resources, and how they can contain costs and generate a return on their investment. The forward-thinking teleservices companies are ones who present themselves as ‘business solutions’ organizations that happen to use the call center as their core tool. The company will be strategic and consultative. It will deploy scalable, cost-effective and flexible solutions to solve real-life problems. The results will be quantifiable and measurable and will have a positive impact on the bottom line. And lastly, the partner will truly be seen as an asset — this is what the future holds for the quality teleservices providers.
DANA ALLENDER is director of business development at InfoCision Management Corp. Reach him at [email protected] or (330) 670-5141. In business for 27 years, InfoCision Management Corporation is the nation’s second largest privately held teleser-vices company and a leading provider of direct sales, marketing and customer services for a variety of Fortune 100 companies as well as small businesses throughout the country. InfoCision operates 32 centers at 13 locations throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. For more information, visit www.infocision.com.